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Safe at Home, Safe at Work: Trade Union Strategies to Prevent

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Safe at Home, Safe at Work: Trade Union Strategies to Prevent SAFE AT HOME, SAFE AT WORK Trade union strategies to prevent, manage and eliminate work-place harassment and violence against women SAFE AT HOME, SAFE AT WORK Trade union strategies to prevent, manage and eliminate work-place harassment and violence against women Dr. Jane Pillinger ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go to the many people who participated in and contributed to this report and who have helped to organise country visits and interviews for the eleven country case studies and interviews with European organisations. Particular thanks go to Natividad Mendoza, who carried out the Spanish country case study, and to Sylvia Cleff le Divellec, who carried out the French and German country case studies. Thanks also go to the members of the ETUC’s Safe at Home, Safe at Work project Steering Group, including Scarlet Harris (TUC, UK), Rosanna Ruscito (CISL, Italy), Ekaterina Yordonova (FTTUB, Bulgaria), Andreja Poje (ZSSS, Slovenia), Tine Skov Jensen (LO, Denmark) and Inga-Lena Heinisch (ETF), who also assisted with the organisation of country visits and who willingly gave valuable information and contributed their enormous expertise to the project. It is also important to acknowledge the inspiration for the project which came from Ludo McFerron from the University of Sydney, Australia; she and Barb McQuarrie (University of Western Ontario, Canada) gave valuable insights and learning from their respective countries that have enriched this report. Many thanks also go to the team at the ETUC, including Montserrat Mir (Confederal Secretary), Barbara Helfferich (Advisor), Cinzia Sechi (Advisor) and Laura Moreno Ortis (Project Officer) for their valuable help, advice and expertise during the course of the project. In particular, Barbara Helfferich and Cinzia Sechi gave extremely helpful and much appreciated expert comments and feedback on an earlier draft of this report. Many thanks finally to Veronica Kelly for editing the report. Dr Jane Pillinger 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 2 Abbreviations 4 Executive summary 5 SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 8 1.1 Gender-based violence at work: a trade union issue 8 1.2 The ETUC’s ‘Safe at Home, Safe at Work’ project 9 1.3 The importance of a gender perspective 10 1.4 The role and structure of collective bargaining 12 1.5 European policy relevant to gender-based violence at work 14 1.6 Istanbul Convention 16 SECTION 2: GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT AT WORK 19 2.1 Violence and harassment against women at work: an important and (re)emerging workplace issue 19 2.2 Law and policy on gender-based violence at work 19 2.3 Data and evidence 20 2.4 New and emerging issues relating to violence and harassment at work 21 2.5 Collective bargaining agreements and workplace polices 25 2.6 Awareness raising, training and campaigns on gender-based violence at work 34 2.7 Links and cooperation with civil society and women’s organisations 41 2.8 European trade union federations 42 2.9 Learning and challenges faced by unions 43 SECTION 3: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS A WORKPLACE ISSUE 48 3.1 Introduction 48 3.2 Legal framework and the enabling nature of legislation on domestic violence at work 49 3.3 Data on domestic violence at work 51 3.4 The social and economic case for preventing domestic violence at work 51 3.5 The importance of work for independence and autonomy 52 3.6 Union consultation and participation in the development of government policies and strategies 53 on violence against women 3.7 Negotiations for collective agreements and workplace polices 54 3.8 Awareness raising, guidance, training and campaigns 62 3.9 Links and cooperation with civil society and women’s organisations 68 3.10 Learning and challenges faced by unions 72 SECTION 4: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 74 4.1 Conclusions 74 4.2 Recommendations 74 APPENDIX 1: LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AT WORK 85 APPENDIX 2: NATIONAL SURVEY DATA ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE, INCLUDING SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORK AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AT WORK 89 APPENDIX 3: EXAMPLES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS AND WORKPLACE POLICIES 95 3 ABBREVIATIONS CBA Collective bargaining agreement CEMR Council of European Municipalities and Regions COESS Confederation of European Security Services CSR Corporate Social Responsibility EFEE European Federation of Education Employers EIGE European Institute for Gender Equality EPSU European Federation of Public Service Unions ETF European Transport Federation ETUC European Trade Union Confederation ETUCE European Trade Union Committee for Education EU European Union EUROCOMMERCE Represents the Retail, Wholesale and International Trade Employers FRA EU Fundamental Rights Agency HOSPEEM European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association ILO International Labour Organization ITUC International Trade Union Confederation LGBTI Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex EU-OSHA European Agency for Safety and Health at Work TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TUC Trade Union Congress UCU University and College Union UNI Global union in commerce, services and related sectors UNI-EUROPA European trade union federation for service sectors, such as private security, commerce, etc. VAWG Violence Against Women and Girls 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION work. Trade unions are campaigning to ensure that there is a strong focus on gender-based violence in the new instru- This report – produced as part of the ‘Safe at Home, Safe ment. The ratification by the EU (and by individual Member at Work’ Project of the European Trade Union Confederation States) of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and (ETUC) – draws together evidence collected from interviews combating violence against women and domestic violence carried out as part of 11 detailed country case studies of (Istanbul Convention) provides an important framework for an European-level developments on gender-based violence and integrated approach to tackling violence against women. The harassment at work, including domestic violence at work. EU ratification of the Convention will need an EU-level legal Gender-based violence and harassment is a form of discrimi- framework and strategy for implementation, entailing the nation that causes significant harm to women, whether it take involvement of all stakeholders, including the social partners. place in the workplace, in public places, on public transport, in schools and colleges, or in the family. The report shows how trade unions and/or social partners have approached SECTION 2: GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND the issue in negotiations, collective bargaining, union aware- HARASSMENT AT WORK ness-raising, training and campaigns, and partnerships with women’s organisations working to end gender-based violence. Section 2 discusses trade union and social partner strategies The report points to good practices in the workplace and relating to gender-based violence and harassment at work. shows the added value of trade unions actions, innovations This covers sexual harassment by colleagues, managers and and negotiations to support victims and create workplaces supervisors in the workplace; third-party violence committed free from violence and harassment. by clients, customers, students, etc.; and violence in public places connected to work, including during travel to and from The ETUC and many of its affiliates have long campaigned to work. It provides evidence, including data and feedback from end gender-based violence, and it has been a core objective trade unions and other stakeholders, that if gender-based vio- of recent action programmes. One of the objectives of the lence is to be eliminated, then there is a need for a specific ETUC’s Action Programme on Gender Equality, 2016-2019, is gender focus to tackle its underlying causes, which relate to to contribute to eliminating gender-based violence and har- wider structural gender inequalities. assment at work and to continue to make the link between domestic violence and work-level protection. Despite many challenges, including working within patriarchal structures and cultures, the report documents many inspiring This report aims to raise awareness amongst a wider audi- and innovative ways in which women and men in trade unions ence about the need for the systematic inclusion of gender have campaigned against gender-based violence and brought when dealing with violence and harassment at work, and the issue into workplace negotiations, safety and health pro- to make recommendations for national and European-level grammes, and initiatives on wellbeing at work. Examples are policy developments, as well as for trade union and/or social given from 80 collective bargaining agreements and union partner action and future policy developments. The report has negotiated workplace policies, as well as union initiatives to been prepared at time of rising violence and harassment at raise awareness, train negotiators and campaign for an end to work, continued and widening gender inequalities at work, violence against women. and a culture of sexism in the workplace. It also shows that the workplace is closely connected to women’s wider roles that extend beyond it, in public places, in the community and SECTION 3: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AT WORK in the private domain of the home and family. The workplace has long been recognised as playing an important role in pre- Section 3 addresses the other main dimension of violence venting and eliminating gender-based violence, and is one of and harassment at work, that is, the spill-over of domes- many settings that should
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